Accessible Snorkeling?

[jenyates]

My husband and I will be cruising to Cozumel, Grand Cayman, and Key West with a friend who has muscular dystrophy and is in a manual wheelchair. Does anyone know of any tour operators in these locations that offer accessible snorkeling? My friend can be lifted from the chair, and he can swim Ok - he's just too weak to stand or walk on his own. He has cruised many times before, and apparently was able to do a little snorkeling on Disney's private island, Castaway Cay, so I'm hoping we can find a way for him to see other locations, too.

 

Thanks for any suggestions you may have!

[CaptData]

In Cozumel go to the Cheapochuk Park (SP). They have an accessible ramp into the water for their dolphin area.

 

 

Grand Cayman is a tender port. I would do a private tour here, Capt Marvin or Native Way but I would send an e-mail and ask them to phone you directly. Talk with them. I used Native Way and was very happy with them. I have MS and one side is weak. They had me holding a float while they drag me to the coral areas. They also assited me into and out of the water. I can stand but had trouble walking at that time.

 

Can't help with Key West but that is US so they have to abide by the ADA.

[Splinter]

It is Chankanaab Marine Park in Cozumel.

[CaptData]

Yes.

[jenyates]

Thanks very much! I'll look into those right away.

[montgomeryfamily]

Two other possibilities for accessible snorkeling tour companies are Red Sail in Grand Cayman (http://www.redsailcayman.com) and Aqua Safari (http://www.aquasafari.com) in Cozumel. Both of these companies offer accessible scuba diving and have specially trained divemasters.

 

We have never used these companies, but have read positive reviews of them written by disabled divers. Their web sites indicate that they take some snorkelers onboard the dive trips, so you could contact the companies and see if they can accommodate you.

 

The reviews I have read indicate that these companies have boats that will accommodate wheelchairs and that the staff will lift the disabled passenger into the water and back out again, as well as provide assistance while in the water.

 

We have snorkeled with Captain Marvins in Grand Cayman and they are very kind and helpful. However, the disabled member of my family can walk with assistance and can climb up and down the boat ladder with assistance. If your friend can't walk/cliimb up the ladder even with assistance, I'm not sure he could take this tour. I have seen Captain Marvin's staff accommodate children in wheelchairs and the staff lift them in and out of the water. But I don't know that they would be willing to offer this type of assistance to an adult man. It would probably depend on his weight. You can call Captain Marvin's and talk with Ruth.

 

Chankanaab Marine Park in Cozumel is nice, but their designated snorkel area is not accessible. It has stone steps which go into the water, although there is a rail. You can go to the beach area and snorkel from there, but there isn't nearly as much to see since it is sandy. However, it is possible to swim around from the beach area to the snorkeling area, although it is more of a swim than your friend may be up for. While there is a ramp in the dolphin area, we weren't allowed to use that since we hadn't booked the dolphin swim. Perhaps Wendy could tell us to whom she talked with to be able to use that area. I would like to know also.

 

The only problem about the marine park is that it was difficult for our disabled family member to walk in the sand and getting into and out of the water without help. Although there are pathways which accommodate wheelchairs very nicely throughout the park, there aren't any at the swimming areas. There aren't any beach wheelchairs either. I got a staff member to help us to get into the water, but when we needed to get out, I couldn't find any staff to help. Fortunately a very nice man visiting the park helped. Of course, you may be able to provide all of the help your friend needs without needing additional help from staff.

[jenyates]

Wow - Montgomeryfamily, thank you so much for all the information!

I've been in touch with our friend Chellie from Eagly Ray Diver's in Cozumel, and she told me Chakanaab is closed right now due to the recent hurricane. My husband and I have gone snorkeling with her twice now, and we're trying to work out a way to use her company with our friend, since we know and trust her so well. Getting up and down the boat's ladder seems to be the hardest trick - we're thinking about having my husband carry him down on his back - maybe rig up a harness?

 

We've also used Captain Marvin's in the past, and I was already thinking of contacting them, since their catamaran seems like it'd be really easy to get a wheelchair on. If not, I'll contact Red Sail. Thanks again!

[montgomeryfamily]

In regard to Captain Marvins, they have a boat, not a catamaran. But it is very large and the ladders on the back have at least one or two steps under the water. This is important because it is much easier to get back on the boat if at least one or two of the steps are under the water than if you have to lift your leg out of the water to get on the first step. In addition, on the Captain Marvins stingray combination tours (which go to stingray city and one or two other locations to snorkel, depending on which you book), the boats are even larger and they dock at a pier and have a gangway, so a wheelchair can just roll on and off.

 

We haven't used Eagle Ray Divers, although I have heard good things about them, for two reasons. First, when I contacted Chellie (and this has been two/three years ago) and asked about the ladders on the boat, she told me that the ladder stops above the surface of the water and there are no steps under the water. (I know a lot of dive boats are like this--its why I always contact the company ahead of time and inquire). Secondly, I found in reading reviews about the snorkel trips, that Eagle Ray leaves the snorkelers (although with a guide) and takes the boat with the divers to other places. While we all wear snorkel vests (we have our own equipment), the disabled person in our group can weaken and become very tired and the boat may not be back before he needs to get back onto it. The water may also become very choppy and, although he can swim, he can't keep it up in choppy water--and could have a probem before the boat gets back. Also, where they go for the snorkeling is very deep and being left out there alone is somewhat scary, but would be even worse when he starts getting tired or unable to swim. So we have never tried to use Eagle Ray Divers.

 

Whatever company/boats you use, your husband may be able to get your friend down fairly easily--in fact, the disabled member in our family just goes in from the boat and doesn't go down the ladder. But getting back up that ladder is very hard and I think your husband may have a very difficult time getting your friend back into a harness on his back while both of them are in the water, let alone trying to carry him back up the ladder. This could be dangerous for you both. I would look for a situation where there are several crew members who you know ahead of time will be willing to help to pull your friend out of the water.

[jenyates]

Just wanted to post a follow up here, in the hopes that it may help others in the same situation in the future. We just got back from our 7-day Disney cruise to Key West, Cozumel, Grand Cayman, and Castaway Cay. It was great!!

 

We booked with Soto's in Grand Cayman, and they were very accomodating. We had to transfer our friend Ken into the van for the ride to the dock, but he was able to stay in his wheelchair for the boat trip out to the reefs. We were fortunate that this is an off season, because there were only 10 other people on the whole tour with us, and so the 2 guys onboard with us were able to give him lots of attention (the extra tip at the beginning probably helped, too). Getting him into the water was of course the easy part, and once in the guys from the boat stayed with him, helping him keep his balance in the water and lifting him when he wanted to take his mask off.

 

To get him out of the water, we actually did make a harnass for my husband to carry Ken on his back, and it worked beautifully. We got the harness from another friend who has CP - it's one that goes with a hydraulic lift used for pools, so it's a mesh fabric that's meant to go in the water (imagine a small hammock with grommets at each corner). Then my husband made nylon straps (seatbelt material) and put heavy-duty grommets in them, and clipped them to the harness using big climbing clips. All we had to do was wrap the harness hammock around Ken and put the straps around John's shoulders. The effect was that of riding piggy-back, only with added support for Ken.

 

With this rig-up, John was able to climb the ladder on to the boat, walk over to Ken's wheel chair, and then lower him backwards down onto it (that part was a little tricky - we had to make sure John didn't fall over onto Ken!).

 

The good news is that we only had to use the harness once: for the coral gardens area. Stingray City is so shallow that we were able to simply lift Ken from the water onto the low platform on the back of the boat (again, Soto's guys were very helpful). So for anyone reading this who doesn't have a harness handy, you could just skip the snorkeling at the Coral Gardens and only go into the water at Stingray City. After all, the stingrays are the main attraction there, anyway!

 

We also snorkeled in Castaway Cay, Disney's private island. (We didn't go in the water in Cozumel this time, although the snorkeling is so much better there.) Disney seems to do pretty well for disabled passengers, in that they had lots of great beach wheelchairs handy, and there was no charge to use them. The beach wheelchairs are water-proof and have huge rubber tires. The only issue with bringing them to the water is that they do float, so you can't just wheel someone in until they can swim right out of the chair. So my husbands big Polish muscles came to the rescue again there, and he simply lifted Ken in and out of the chair as needed.

 

All in all, it was a wonderful cruise, and I am so glad we were able to bring our friend snorkeling in the Caribbean. I hope our experience helps to inspire some fellow disabled cruisers to take the plunge and try a few shore excursions if they can. I've read so many posts of cruisers who've resigned themselves to just staying on the ship every cruise, and while I know that's unavoidable for some, there are still some options out there for wheelchair-bound cruisers. I hope we can continue to convince shore side companys to offer more and more accessible options, so we can all enjoy the beauty these islands have to offer.

 

Thanks again to all of you who offered advice and suggestions - and feel free to e-mail me with any questions!